Newcastle Eagles have completed an-other signing swoop on the eve of the new season with England inter-national Andrew Sullivan arriving on Tyneside.

The 6ft 8in forward will go straight into tonight's BBL curtain-raiser against old rivals Scottish Rocks at the Arena (7.30).

"Andrew is a very capable player - of the English players who have been at college in the US he is probably one of the most talented," said player-coach Fab Flournoy.

"He is athletic and he runs the floor. There are not many English players with his talent and experience - he is the kind of player we need to try and keep in the BBL."

London-born Sullivan spent last season playing with Eiffel Towers Nijmegen in the Dutch Eredivisie, averaging 9.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

The Eagles are aware that Sullivan's stint on Tyneside may be short-term as, like other top young English players, he is being watched by clubs in mainland Europe.

But in the meantime, the arrival of a player who spent four years at Big East college Villanova is a timely boost for the Eagles, who have had a frustrating time in trying to prepare for the start of the new term.

The Springfield Honda-backed Eagles have had difficulties in trying to recruit the calibre of English players they wanted to strengthen their bench, although the arrival of Sullivan, along with Perry Lawson and Darius Dafoe, means that they have finally achieved their goal.

Problems over new power forward Frank Bennett's paperwork, which was held up as the US postal system was affected by not one but two hurricanes in recent weeks, meant that he only arrived in the UK yesterday, over three weeks after he was due to arrive.

And injuries to Flournoy (elbow) and forwards Charles Smith (knee) and Steve Mercer (ankle) have severely hampered the Eagles in their pre-season and mean that in many respects the start of the new term has come around too soon for them.

But Flournoy, who has been working flat out all summer along with managing director Paul Blake to try and ensure the Eagles are challenging for honours this season, is putting a brave face on the problems he has encountered.

"Win or lose, tonight's game is going to be a character check for us," admitted the playcaller.

"We are going to be playing off individual talent alone simply because we haven't been able to work on the Xs and Os.

"But I am remaining positive because I know there are a lot of good things to come this season and I am excited about it.

"We have the deepest and most talented squad that the Eagles have ever had.

"Having said that, we only had five players able to train yesterday - that's the frustrating part.

"But once we get up and running, then with that line-up we should be competing for some type of silverware this season."

While the Rocks lost twice to the Eagles in their pre-season And 1 tournament, those results will count for nothing tonight when the visitors' new point guard Lamont Mcintosh faces a tough BBL debut against Newcastle's celebrated playmaker TJ Walker.